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Writer/director Paul Thomas Anderson’s ode to the ’70s porn industry brings poignant depth to its sensational subject matter. It’s also an amazing showcase of top-notch acting and directing. Anderson is a rare creative talent, as skilled with actors as with the camera, a compelling combination of Steven Spielberg and Robert Altman.

The formidable cast includes Mark Wahlberg as a high school dropout whose star rises quickly once he’s discovered by Burt Reynolds, a porno director who becomes a surrogate father figure. Reynolds is married to Julianne Moore, who stars in all his films. The rest of their tight-knit filming crew includes Don Cheadle, John C. Reilly, Heather Graham, Philip Seymour Hoffman, and William H. Macy. Moore and Reynolds were Oscar-nominated for their work, but even the smallest of roles in Boogie Nights are delectable ones, from Luis Guzman’s night club owner to Joanna Gleason’s vitriolic turn as Wahlberg’s domineering mother. There’s no one you don’t care about, no throwaways. The film takes you through these characters’ emotional ups and downs, and by the end you can clearly see they’ve formed a surrogate family — sometimes sweet, sometimes sordid, but family nonetheless.

Composer Michael Penn opens and closes the film with broken-down carnival music, and I think that’s a brilliant way to represent these characters. They’re cogs in a great machine, capable of the highest highs and the lowest lows, but once they’re part of the machine, they’re part of it forever. Moore’s character learns this when she tries to regain legal custody of her son from her ex-husband. Cheadle’s character discovers it when the bank refuses to loan him the money to start a new business. And Wahlberg’s central ‘Dirk Diggler’ comes to this realization when none of his other creative aspirations gain any traction, forcing him to return to the ‘circus’ after a falling out with the ‘family’.

In the last scene of the movie, we finally see Diggler’s claim to fame. To have seen it earlier in the film would have been sensational, but after a harrowing down-swing in the machine’s vicious cycle, Diggler’s endowment picks up mixed meaning. It’s the crux of his existence, both glorious and pitiful, empowering and enslaving.

And the show must go on.

With Nicole Ari Parker, Thomas Jane, Alfred Molina, Ricky Jay, Robert Ridgely, Melora Walters, Philip Baker Hall, and Nina Hartley.

Oscar Nominations: Best Original Screenplay, Supporting Actor (Reynolds), Supporting Actress (Moore)